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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

2013 (mini) Farmhouse Christmas Tour

Hello again! Merry Christmas week from the Lazy W! I am so glad you stopped by, and I wish you could be here in person for hot tea and shortbread while we wrap gifts, brush horses, and watch the paperwhites grow. Instead, will you take a quick tour of our Christmas silliness?

This is our entryway tree. She's a scrappy little Red Cedar beauty which Handsome and his Dad dug up from the Pine Forest while our nephew was visiting recently. It was originally destined for the Apartment, but this spot seemed just perfect. (She was lonely in the Apartment all day.) I wrapped her in burlap, dressed her with some very old, very skinny sparkly tinsel and just a handful of other ornaments, then filled her base with my wedding veil. For some reason, romance is swelling in my heart even more than normal these days. There is no electricity here for a string of lights, but natural sunlight bounces all over this tinsel most of the day. I love it. I will have a really hard time saying goodbye to an entryway tree next month.

This is our tree tree. Also real, but not from our own forest. This year I had lots of fun staying with metallic ornaments, raffia, and sewing-pattern tissue poofs for the main she-bang. I personally love this aesthetic. More importantly, there is meaning here. Judy, Handsome's Mom who passed away recently, taught me to sew and in fact gave me my first sewing machine for Christmas the first year her son and I were married. So for me at least, this is a really quiet, pretty way to have her with us at Christmas this year. I will never forget that gift and everything it has opened up to me in life.

Beneath our main tree sits a wicker "Moses" basket, filling gradually with gifts for a thousand beloved people. For wrapping this year, I decided to just go crazy and not match a single thing. Lots of fabric, lots of mixed papers, lots of hand-gathered poofy corsages instead of foil bows. Buttons. Torn book pages. Twine. Dried zinnias. I can't finger knit yet, but I can finger crochet, and that has been part of the mix as well. If it's fun and pretty, it's gonna be wrapping fodder this year.

Does anyone remember this darling deer? Handsome painted her and three other plastic lawn creatures as a surprise gift for me this summer. I remember loving them all so much I just laughed and laughed!! She is a hollow planter, so I brought her in from the garden, rinsed her out (all over my clean kitchen floor, by the way), and filled her with faux evergreen and a few ornaments. I think her bright blue against all the Chrismtassy stuff is gorgeous. And it's another reminder of love, so there ya go.

Friends, I am officially part of the antlers craze. This is my contribution: A mounted set of antlers from Handsome's grandpa Eddie, dressed in more faux evergreen, two mink stoles (random estate sale purchases), some tinsel garland, and a single hammered silvery ornament. I don't even know if any visitors have noticed this yet, it hangs so high and out of the way; but I did text a photo of it to my friend Marci one day, and now I'm showing it to you. So it officially exists.

Our mantle is decked out in a mix of fake evergreen branches and cuttings from my garden and the forest. I added a string of lights, a handful of ornaments, feathers from our yard birds, and two huge sewing paper tissue poofs. The most important part, of course, is the message on the chalkboard:

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a SON is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called

Wonderful, Counselor,

the Mighty God,

the Everlasting Father,

the Prince of Peace.

Speaking of messages, this sits in our guest bathroom all the time. It's a garage sale oil painting bought forever ago, onto which I glued magazine and newspaper letters to spell out the famous Home on the Range lyrics...

Where Seldom is Heard...

a Discouraging Word...

We are far from perfect, but we do try to keep this atmosphere in our home all the time. We want very much for the farm to be a place of peace and relaxation, safety, uplifting, laughter, silliness, love, and nourishment. At Christmas especially, this is so important for people. So needed and appreciated.

I mentioned paper whites earlier? They are growing like gangbusters! Check back in later this week for a review of my new favorite garden product. For now, just know that my collection of half a dozen mason jars boasting straight, tall, bright green stalks is a wonderful encouragement to me when I sit in the living room to read, write, or work on something. It's just beautiful.

I guess that's about it. There's much more Christmas around the house, but the photos didn't all turn out. That's okay. You probably have things to do anyway.

Every day here is so full. So different. So steeped with love and longing, work and pleasure, reconciliation and miracles. I feel very blessed to say that at the Lazy W we enjoy Christmas all year long, but this week? Things are gonna be magical.

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Farm Fresh Eggs 2013: 799

Last year was wonderful! We collected 959 eggs, allowing us to share them with friends and bake constantly. Beginning early February of 2013, we have started a fresh count! When we reach 500 eggs, whenever that is, I'll do a fun giveaway, so stay tuned!